Entertainment Weekly recently ran an article featuring 10 things you didn't know about the teen's film. Here they are in brief. Pick-up a copy of the magazine to get more details.
1) The 43-year old director slept with his teenage star - Desperate to make the transition to serious actress, Natalie Wood dated Nick Ray in hopes of landing the role. That she was sleeping with him didn't land her the role, but the fact that she crashed her car on Laurel Canyon, thereby ensuring her credentials as a juvenile delinquent, did land her the role.
2)The studio balks at an on-screen kiss between Dean and Mineo - Warner Bros. head gets it in writing that the studio would not tolerate such shenanigans in spite of the many homoerotic visual clues and relationships throughout the film.
3)Wild rehearsals lead to a mini-gang warDuring auditions Ray forced his male actors to engage in mock rumbles and gladiator games to show their propensity to such. Much of this macho attitude poured over onto the set leading to the injury of several actors.
4)Dr. Seuss takes a crack at the Rebel scrit - Theodore Giesel was initially hired to write drafts of the story starring Marlon Brando.
5)Dean disappears on the first day of shooting - Just as shooting began, Dean called from New York saying he wasn't coming back. He returned a few days later acting as if nothing had happened.
6) The on-screen knife fight draws real blood - Dean insisted on using real knives for the scene between Stark and Buzz. Dean was slashed and began to bleed causing the director to yell "cut". this invoked an angry response from Dean causing him to scream "Don't you ever cut a scene while I'm having a real moment? That's what I'm here for!"
7) Dean's classic red jacket was a last-minute inspiration - The film was initially filmed in black and white with Dean wearing a khaki jacket. When they decided to re-shoot in color, costume designer decided to give Dean a red leather jacket like the one he had seen on a young actor looking for work. He made three jackets for the film - all have disappeared.
8) An angry Dennis Hopper is stripped of his dialogue - Director Ray found out Hopper was also sleeping with Natalie Wood, so he took away all the young actor's dialogue.
9) Wood was replaced by an extra in Rebel's most famous scene - Wood, being a minor caused complications with shooting. By law she was forced to leave the set before midnight, but they had not finished shooting the chicken run scene Judy' signaling the beginning of the race. So they used a stand-in for the long shots of Judy strating the race with her hands raised.
10) Jimmy Olsen is propositioned by Dean - Jack Simmons once asked Jack Larsen (who played Jimmy Olsen) to join him and Dean in a three-way (Larsen declined).
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